GAME | Gaming As Meaningful Education

A new two-day event from the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) will focus on how games encourage critical thinking, problem solving and creative activities. Co-sponsored by the ALA Games & Gaming Round Table, GAME | Gaming As Meaningful Education, will be held September 23-24 in Rochester, N.Y.

Attendees will explore how to implement interactive learning opportunities in their library program through all types of games. They will also discover how these strategies connect communities – students, parents, and educators – through the educational, recreational, and social value of games.

Keynotes

Harness the Power of Digital Learning with Gaming

Julie Evans, CEO
Project Tomorrow

Since 2003, the Speak Up Research Project has polled 4 million K-12 students, educators and parents about their views on digital learning. A key finding from the resulting data has been the increasingly importance of curated digital content and in school mentoring to actualize the promise of technology to transform education. Enter the school librarian. In this session, Julie will share new Speak Up findings that demonstrate the pivotal role of the school librarian in the school and classroom adoption of gaming to learn.

Julie Evans has been CEO of Project Tomorrow, one of the nation’s leading education nonprofit organizations, since 1999. She developed the Speak Up National Research Project in 2003 and has served as the chief researcher on this project and other digital learning national research projects. She is a graduate of Brown University and serves on the Board of Directors of Project Tomorrow, the Reaching At-Promise Students Association Advisory Board, and the TechSETS Advisory Board. She is a frequent speaker, writer and commentator on K-12 and higher education issues around digital learning. Ms. Evans was named in April 2008 as one of the Top Ten Most Influential People in Education Technology over the past 10 years by eSchool News.

Teaching Through Games

Christopher Harris, Director
Genesee Valley School Library System

Gaming in schools and libraries is often justified in terms of incidental connections to learning. While accurate, this approach falls short of the full potential of a play-based instructional pedagogy. In this session, Christopher will talk about the development of the direct-instruction through games approach. Attendees will leave with a deeper understanding of how play and games can be embedded as direct-instruction aspects of any classroom or library. Attendees will also explore the potential of all types of games, as well as the unique qualities of tabletop board and card games that empower teachers to modify game play to meet intentional instructional goals.

In addition to leading the team at Play Play Learn, Christopher is a certified school librarian and school administrator working as the Director of the School Library System for the Genesee Valley Educational Partnership in western New York, an educational services agency that has provided a curriculum aligned board game library to member school districts since 2007. He presents nationally on gaming in schools and libraries as well as other school, technology and library topics and has authored and co-authored numerous books and articles on gaming and learning.

AASL Game Room

Not just an exhibit floor! The “AASL Game Room” will feature an interactive experience with leading gaming vendors.